STEVE PIECZENIK TALKS

Ukrainian President Victor F. Yanukovick Develops A ‘Cold’ in the Midst of a Civil War!

My Professional Diagnosis is that he IS suffering from “The Terminal Illness”,   I Call – A COUP!!   NOT A CROUP! 

  For the past several months,  many of us have been following with bated breath the efforts of Western-Oriented Protestors fighting against a corrupt,  Pro-Russian [also pro-Soviet] government led by Russian apparatchiks including former ex-President Yanukovych.    The president who is only 64 years old and was in excellent health suddenly developed a case of the ‘catarrh’ [fever, malaise, sneezing].

  Immediately,   I had two thoughts….

 

The first image was that of the character,  Adelaide,  in Frank Loesser’s brilliant Pulitzer Prize/Tony winning musical called “Guys and Dolls”.    In that musical there is a poignant scene where Adelaide tried to manipulate her miscreant boyfriend,  Nathan Detroit,   into marrying her by developing an psychosomatic ‘cold’ .    Needless to say that Adelaide’s wily methods do result in success.

  But the second image that I have about the Ukrainian President’s so-called ‘cold’ is of a coup that occurred against Mikhail Gorbachev in August of 1991.    As prominent Ukrainian journalist,  Vitaly Pornikov,  correctly remembers that on August 19, 1991 the U.S.S.R vice president announced that the then Secretary General Gorbachev had a ‘serious illness’ and the next day Gorbachev was in handcuffs and thrown out of power.     Needless to say,   Mr Putin conveniently arrived on the scene a few years later.

 

So let me share with you not the reality of the Ukrainian civil war;  but instead I would like to explain several of the different types of coups that will occur in the UKRAINE within the next few weeks.

First for those of you readers who might be interested in creating a coup somewhere in the world,   may I suggest Edward Luttwak’s practical handbook: Coup D’Etat: A Practical Handbook.    I know Edward and I can assure you that he certainly knows about his subject.    He even made a film on a certain coup.  However,   there is a more interesting nosology of coups - so those of you who are interested in developing different types of coups can garner significant information from the learned Harvard Professor Samuel P. Huntington.

Here are his categories and some of my favorite types of coups:
[1] Breakthrough Coup D’ Etat:  A revolutionary army overthrows a government in order to create a new power elite. 

▪ This type of coup is often INITIATED BY MID-LEVEL JUNIOR OFFICERS.

▪ Examples include: Col. Nasser’s Egyptian Coup in 1952;  Col.  Qaddaffi’s Coup in 1969; and a few coups in Africa.

[2] Guardian Coup D’Etat:  often described as the ‘MUSICAL CHAIRS COUP’.   Usually this type of coup is initiated in the ‘interests’ of IMPROVING PUBLIC ORDER,  EFFICIENCY AND TERMINATING CORRUPTION.

▪ This type of coup is most often than not initiated by the RULING MILITARY OFFICER OF THAT PARTICULAR COUNTRY.

▪ Examples abound here: In 1999, General Pervez Musharaff overthrew Pakistani Prime Minister Nuwaz Sharif.  Then Musharaff was ‘voted out’ in  a bloodless coup by Prime Minister Benazhir Bhutto.   Now Bhutto who was killed in a coup was no stranger to coups herself.   Both her father was overthrown in a military coup and her husband who became Prime Minister of Pakistan after having been jailed by the Pakistani military for eleven years.  No one can beat the ISI Pakistani Military for coups and counter-coups!

The sequence really does not matter.   What does matter is that a ‘failed state’ like the present Ukraine or Thailand will enter into some form of civil strife, often amounting to a ‘civil war’ and then … pooff!   the military takes over power.

Lest you think that America has not had any coups,   please think again!

  The assassination of JFK was in fact a coup undertaken by both US military and civilian forces.   LBJ was the recipient as was many other economic/political interests.    Nixon was taken out by a ‘Watergate Scandal’ which in effect amounted to ‘civilian coup’. 

  What do I mean?
  Nixon was becoming inconvenient for many civilian /military/financial elements of the USG.    He was not part and parcel of the then established Northeast power or Texas business interests.    He was Eisenhower’s bête-noire as his Vice President and was in many ways of ‘out of control’. 

Similarly,   the stand down on 9/11 was and still is a Bush Jr/Cheney ‘bloody coup’ with participating member of our civilian/military/ financial community with help from Israel,  Pakistan,  Dubai and Saudi Arabia.    So these are the types of coup that have become somewhat popular in our times.

  Please don’t get so indignant or self-righteous.    As for me,  I realize that our great country, the USA,   is in effect a de facto military coup.

  Think about it!

  Every congressional district and Senatorial state has more military/industrial complexes than any ‘bloody coup’ could ever have accomplished.

 My favorite Republican President,  Eisenhower,   warned us about the military/industrial coup.    But  no one listened because he did not SPECIFICALLY USE THE WORD “COUP”….he used the word complex,  but he meant coup.

  When you think of all our military command centers---CENTCOM,  SOUTHCOM,  SOCOM—just in Florida; as well as CINPAC,  AFRICOM [which was ordered to ‘stand down’ in Benghazi’] –what do you think we are?

 

We are nothing more than a  garrison state or PAX AMERICANA or if you wish,   A ROMAN EMPIRE.    Our centurion guards,  the chiefs of the area commands,  patrol the world in over 720 plus military bases located in over 224 countries.    That constitutes in anybody’s language an IMPERIAL STATE with military control.    The civilians,  including POTUS,  are irrelevant.   I wish it were different but its not.    Americans have been asleep so long that they forgot that they had created a military that was loyal to no country other than itself.  

So,   Mr Ukrainian President,   don’t feel so bad when you find yourself in prison or political exile.

  Please consider…..

  Putin was trained by the best SPY MASTERS in the world bar none  (Markus Wolf and Yuri Andropov).

Viktor,    the worst that can happen is that we,   America,  will take you in as a ‘political refugee.’   You and Mr Gorbachev can even make some DINGI [money] by advertising Louis Vuitton Handbags from the back of a black Limousine.    If you are really good, we can even get you a book contract and then you can appear on the John Stewart Show or Steven Colbert—your choice.

 

The alternative could have been worse.

  Putin at least is not STALIN-  not yet!

Sidebar:  It is estimated that Stalin killed 4million Ukrainians in 1933 alone,  starved them to death!

 

Old Russian proverb:  The thief that stole 3 kopeks is hung,  the thief that stole 50 kopeks is praised!